P.C. Haldar during the workshop at NEC auditorium in Shillong on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos

Shillong, Oct. 19: Former Intelligence Bureau chief and the Centre’s interlocutor in Ulfa talks P.C. Haldar today said he was not aware whether the outfit’s detained general secretary Anup Chetia had pulled out from the tripartite peace talks.

“I am not aware of him switching sides though it is a fact that he has not come,” Haldar told reporters on the sidelines of the workshop Northeast: Development Paradigms held at the NEC auditorium here today ahead of the peace talks with Ulfa.

Sources said Chetia is in custody in Bangladesh and efforts are on to extradite him to India.

“Now the Ulfa leadership has come though it is true that Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua is yet to join the peace process. We appeal to him that he should also join,” he said.

Haldar, who is also the Centre’s interlocutor for peace talks with the A’chik National Volunteer Council(ANVC), a Garo militant group in Meghalaya, said the state government should also give its opinion on the issue pertaining to the dialogue with the outfit.

On the ANVC demand to create a Garoland autonomous council on the lines of the Bodo Territorial Council in Assam, Haldar said, “Discussions are on with the group. It is a working process.”